Cloud based storage systems allow users to store files on a network based storage system. Some cloud based storage systems include cloud based applications for the users to access the files on the cloud based storage system using a web based client application. By using the cloud based application, a user may also be able to annotate parts of the file with metadata. For example, a user may wish to mark some text in the file as important by selecting a portion of the document and marking it using a comment feature. The corresponding metadata for the comment is often associated with a proprietary document model. Therefore, access to the metadata may be limited to cloud based applications or native applications designed with knowledge of the proprietary document model.
Sometimes native applications or cloud based applications may not be capable of accessing and modifying all types of file formats. In some cases, the user may need to process the file using an application that serves a very specific functional need. Therefore, there may be a need for accessing the files using third party applications. Third party applications may not understand the document model of cloud based storage files. Therefore, the user may lose information related to the file while trying to access the file using a third party application. To prevent third party applications from losing metadata information, there is a need for exposing the metadata related to content of the document.